Samsung bribes Note 7 owners to stick with Galaxy – but is the deal any good?

The United States arm of Samsung Electronics is offering credit to all customers who bought Galaxy Note 7 devices that are willing to exchange the phone for a new device. Better still, you can get credit even if you swap to a phone built by another company.

There are two options currently available through the US Note 7 Refund and Exchange Program, starting on October 13 at 15:00 (ET):

(1) Up to $100 credit to exchange your Note 7 for any Samsung smartphone

(2) A $25 bill credit to exchange your Note 7 for a refund, or other branded smartphone

However, we’re not convinced that exchanging your phone is any better than getting a full refund – if you paid full price for the Note 7 anyway.

The Note 7 launched at £749 in the UK and $799 in the US, which is what most customers probably paid. But the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have now dropped considerably in price, retailing at £490/$545 and £540/$612 respectively. So if you swap your Note 7 for another top-end Samsung phone and get $100 credit, you may still be worse off than if you’d requested a full refund.

It’s not clear whether Samsung’s US credit offer is available in the UK too. We’ve asked for clarification, and will update this article with any response.

Sharethrough (Mobile)

Tim Baxter, COO of Samsung Electronics in the US, said: “We appreciate the patience of our consumers, carrier and retail partners for carrying the burden during these challenging times. We are committed to doing everything we can to make this right. Customers’ safety remains a top priority and we ask consumers with an original or replacement Galaxy Note 7 to power down and take advantage of the remedies available.”

Samsung announced a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 on September 2, after an internal investigation uncovered a serious battery flaw that was causing some users’ handsets to spontaneously combust. However, it turned out that even new, replaced handsets were still catching fire, much to Samsung’s confusion. Now Samsung has stopped manufacturing and selling the device, and is urging all users to turn their handsets off indefinitely.